The Nigerian people were cheated out of an estimated USD$6 billion when a 2011 oil rights deal enriched its own officials but really benefited two international oil majors – Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian Eni – instead of Nigeria, according to a report released Monday by London-based NGO Global…
After weeks of investigation into the October 2 death of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, the United States said Tuesday that it stands by its relationship with Riyadh – a move that critics say gives a green light to repressive, authoritarian governments in Africa and across the globe….
A group of seven Congolese political opposition leaders announced their decision for a presidential candidate on Sunday, choosing Martin Fayulu of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development (ECiDé) party to face President Joseph Kabila’s own choice in the December 23 election. With the long-delayed date looming in Democratic Republic of Congo,…
A key climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Monday warns that the global community must act decisively and dramatically to try and limit catastrophic impacts from climate change – and that some impacts remain unavoidable even if global warming is held to the 1.5°C level….
Ugandan musician Bobi Wine – an opposition MP whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi – is now in the United States after leaving from Entebbe Airport about midnight Friday. “Safely arrived in the U.S. where I’ll be receiving specialized treatment following the brutal torture at the hands of SFC soldiers,”…
It was only Wednesday that President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking to South Africa’s National Assembly, answered lawmakers’ questions about land reform and distribution. He spoke of the need to heal the historical wounds of land dispossession familiar to South Africans of all races, and again confirmed that land expropriation – when…
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been declared the victor in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, after results released late Thursday showed him with 50.8 of the votes – just enough above the required threshold to avoid a September 8 runoff. Mnangagwa received 2,460,463 votes compared with challenger Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Alliance candidate who received 2,147,436…
It was June 14 when officials in Mayotte opened up a psychological support services unit, designed to help residents deal with the stress of hundreds of earthquakes they’ve experienced as part of the ongoing seismic activity the Indian Ocean island nation has endured for weeks. The situation has “caused concerned…
The annual World Drug Report was released Tuesday, and it points to continued Tramadol use and trafficking across central and western Africa as one of the most significant international problems. “We need to raise the alarm about addiction to Tramadol, rates of which are soaring in parts of Africa,” said the…
With all of the attention paid to United States President Donald Trump’s tirades on trade during the weekend G7 meeting in Canada, it might go unnoticed that a number of African heads of state were in Quebec too – and they were focused on environment and climate in a G7…
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a body that counts half of all African nations among its 57 members, plans an extraordinary summit on Friday in Istanbul following the call of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to address the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in Gaza. The OIC has condemned the United States…
Asfawossen Asrat is professor of geology, School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Nelson Torto is executive director at The African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. What they have in common – along with 10 other scientists from the Global South – is a concern over…
There’s been much speculation on when and how Moïse Katumbi, the exiled Congolese political leader who announced a presidential run in March, will return to the country. Katumbi, the candidate of the “Together for Change” coalition challenging Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila, has said he will return home…
United States President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement has been met with a flurry of diplomatic responses, including concerns expressed by the African Union. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission, released a statement Wednesday in support of the July 2015 agreement, known…
This week Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid will be awarded the 2018 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize during World Press Freedom Day, hosted this year by Ghana. As with the many recipients before him, he won’t see the conference sessions or attend the gala dinner in Accra. The Egyptian, known…